How to watch games on your computer
Ok, so there's been a bit of discussion on how to watch streamed games over the interweb, and while it's not exactly rocket science it does take awhile to figure out what you're doing if you haven't done so before. Luckily for you, I had to learn how to do this when I lived in the Caribbean and have made all the mistakes so you don't have to. Btw, I have a feeling "I lived in the Caribbean" is right up there on the annoyance list with "Hey did you know Tom Zbikowski was a boxer" for people who know me, but you know what? Screw 'em. I lived 200 feet from the ocean and rum was $3.99 a fifth. You haven't lived until you've woken up on the beach wearing nothing but socks and a party hat. I'm not sayin' I have, I'm not sayin' I haven't, I'm just sayin'......
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah- I made all the mistakes so you don't have to blah blah yeah Ninja we get it just get on with it.
Two things to keep in mind when watching streamed games:
- You are essentially watching someone's television through their window (albeit with their permission). This means you have NO CONTROL over what they decide to stream, and the very real possibility exists of a change to Judge Judy in the middle of a Sam McGuffie 85 yard run. That's the "fraught with peril" Brian spoke of when referring to Sopcast.
- The streamers are doing this AS A SERVICE for you. They don't have to, so if the reception on a stream is poor or they decide Judge Judy is more important, don't start whining and complaining. If you're looking for control buy a Slingbox, but crying because your game isn't being streamed, etc is like someone handing you a martini with Stoli and you bitching because it's not made with Goose. Save it.
The "How To":
I use two different sites, each has it's pros and cons.
- Channelsurfing.net can be found at the absurdly simple address of www.channelsurfing.net . Seriously, if you can't figure that out you probably went to State, but I know there a few Sparties who read this site, so I just wanted to point that out. This is the easiest of the two, just go to the site, scroll down, and click on the link. A new browser window will open with your game, and voila- you're golden.
- My P2P can be found at the address www.myp2p.eu and while not as easy to use as the aforementioned site, it does offer a chance to watch the game you're watching and surf the web as well, say if you wanted to do something like participate in the WLA led Live chat during the game without having to flip back and forth.
My P2P is exacty what the title implies, meaning Peer-to-Peer sharing of files, so you'll have to download a program or two to make it work, most likely Sopcast and VLC.
There is a forum on the site that lists all of the scheduled streams as well as FAQs for Sopcast, VLC, and how to watch stream in general. Here's this week's schedule: www.myp2pforum.eu/ncaa/26130-ncaa-football-week-1-a.html
From there you should be able to figure it out. I used Sopcast many times last year, and even gave someone (Rush N Attack?) my phone number so they could call and I walked them through it for the Frozen Four. Let me know if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them, but I recommend trying to set it up and watch something tonight, just in case.
EDIT: The previous offer of a guaranteed stream has been redacted. After the Live Blog yesterday I decided my Saturdays will be better spent worrying about my own enjoyment instead of contributing to that of others, many of whom often do not appreciate it. Any questions regarding streams are probably addressed in the tutorial TS of MGoVideo.com linked to below. If you haven't checked out their site do so, it's awesome- and they have a technical forum over there as well.
Good Luck and Go Blue!
-Ninja
August 29th, 2008 at 7:03 PM ^
August 29th, 2008 at 8:17 PM ^
August 29th, 2008 at 8:42 PM ^
August 29th, 2008 at 9:19 PM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 12:30 PM ^
Dude, either stream or don't. I'm not buying any t-shirts unless they come with free shipping to Korea. The only person who's screwing with people is the guy who's trying to sell something that's already available for free:
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/39130
You already said in the other thread that you're not streaming Utah, Miami or ND. So tell me again why it's more important to buy your shirts than it is to vote for this week's game to be streamed?
August 29th, 2008 at 10:52 PM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 10:16 AM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 9:48 AM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 11:17 AM ^
It looks like NESN will be streaming today's game on his channel VP5.
VP5 (sopcast): sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/39130
There are two ESPN2 streams that may have the game depending on the streamer's location:
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/40528
tvu://70307 (tvu player)
NESN week one thread:
http://www.myp2pforum.eu/ncaa/26321-week-1-games-my-area.html
MyP2P forum week one thread:
http://www.myp2pforum.eu/ncaa/26130-ncaa-football-week-1-a.html
VP5 may require you to do the VLC trick:
Open VLC, go to Open Network Stream, select HTTP option, and type in 127.0.0.1:8902 (if not working, try port 8912). You MUST leave Sopcast running; closing Sopcast closes the stream. If the stream gives sound in both VLC and Sopcast, mute the sound on Sopcast, or hit the refresh button so the Sopcast screen goes blank, but the VLC screen stays intact.
I will keep this thread updated throughout the day as more stream information becomes available: http://mgovideo.com/board/index.php?showtopic=42
August 30th, 2008 at 11:29 AM ^
NESN's confirmed schedule for today:
11AM Appalachian St @ LSU
3:30PM Utah @ Michigan
8:00PM Alabama @ Clemson
http://www.myp2pforum.eu/ncaa/26130-ncaa-football-week-1-a-6.html#post5…
August 30th, 2008 at 11:34 AM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 12:13 PM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 12:52 PM ^
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/SopCast.htm
As someone who has made a significant investment of both time and money to help people watch games, I don't get your mentality. But I totally support someone from here streaming rather than relying on some Red Sox fan. Maybe we can find someone who doesn't need a $70 cable.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:56 PM ^
August 30th, 2008 at 3:32 PM ^
That feed is really choppy for me. Sopcast is working:
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/39130
August 31st, 2008 at 4:34 AM ^
You know what TS- I was trying to help people out. Good for you you've made a "significant investment of time and money". You guys have a great site, I'll give you that. If you have the time and money good for you, but right now I don't, and I get to watch every game on TV or in person anyway.
I was willing to put up my computer to stream so the game wouldn't get switched, like it did for the guy in London tonight who was watching Sopcast and had it cut off in the 4th. But if you want to tray and make me feel bad- for asking people to pay their own way for me doing them a favor involving my time or my money then yeah, good luck with that. I put a lot of time into that diary and into moderating comments today- if people don't like it they can figure shit out for themselves and I'll sit back and say "Can't watch the game? Sucks to be you."
I like your site, it's obvious you've put a lot of time into it, and I can appreciate that. If you'd like to guarantee a stream for people that would be awesome- I was just making people an offer and trying to figure out a way for it not to et switched mid game, I experienced it last year and it really sucks when that's your only option.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:44 PM ^
If you seriously need $70 to stream and don't have it give me your paypal address. What's the deal with not being able to do the next two games though?
I always download games because streaming isn't that convenient when you don't have a good and stable internet connection. But with the best vpn for mac downloading stuff from torrent websites isn't a problem at all. You can access all the blocked resources which is really convenient.
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